The Sun Leaves Traces
by Omnicat
Summary: Very distinctive traces, in fact. Amber denies any and all involvement.


**Title:** The Sun Leaves Traces

**Author:** Omnicat

**Spoilers & Desirable Foreknowledge:** A lot.

**Warnings:** None.

**Characters & Pairings:** Amber, Hei, Pai

**Summary:** Very distinctive traces, in fact. Amber denies any and all involvement.

**Author's Note:** Enjoy!

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**The Sun Leaves Traces**

The camp they had been dropped off at was obviously brand new. Sap, milky white or amber, still leaked from the wounds in the felled trees, and the terrain had yet to acquire that well-trodden infrastructure of mud she had come to associate with long-term outdoor operations. The arrangement of the tents could use a little work as well.

It wouldn't surprise Amber if the other crews had been dumped in that desolate, sanity-forsaken bay in the exact same way they had been; all but thrown overboard by a panicking human crew desperate to leave Heaven's Gate's waters. The higher-ups would not be pleased to hear complaints, though, and there was nothing wrong that would hinder their operations, so she decided not to enter the unprofessional conduct of the human operatives into her report.

After a quick round through the camp site to familiarize herself with it, Amber returned to the tent she and the other Contractors would stay in. A curious sight greeted her there; Hei, the young human brother of her even younger fellow Contractor Pai, was stretched out straight along the length of the tent, using his arm as a pillow. The relaxed features and even breathing could have been misleading, but when Amber tickled his palm and all he did was twitch, groan and turn his head, she was sure he was deep, deep asleep.

_Poor landlubber,_ she thought, faintly amused and distantly impressed. The din in the camp was substantial.

Not surprisingly, Pai appeared at her brother's side not long after. Amber had already observed that keeping watch over their sleeping sibling went both ways.

She nodded at Hei's sleeping form. "How long has he been here?"

"Ten minutes or so." Pai answered, and explained before Amber could ask: "Temperatures are off here. The shadows cast a lot of cold as well, and there's no heater for our tent yet. We should get one in a couple of hours."

The little quirks of this part of Heaven's Gate's hadn't escaped Amber. With a smile, she moved on to her next question: "Did he get much sleep last night?"

"None. He was seasick the entire way."

"Then he probably won't be waking up anytime soon, huh?"

"Probably not." Pai said, and entered the tent. She clearly intended to leave him there. He was tucked neatly out of the way of the walking routes and wouldn't bother anyone, so Amber understood. The girl seemed to have forgotten something, though.

Amber ducked into the tent as well, and emerged a little later with goose bumps and a bottle of sunscreen. Squatting next to Hei, she uncapped it, squeezed out the bottle-farts, and began dabbing big white globs onto his rosy cheeks. He looked just like Amber remembered normal teenage boys to look from her own childhood: younger than their years, childishly cute despite all their faux-mature bravado, and about to fall victim to an immature prank. She almost expected him to feel the cool tickling of the sunscreen and slap himself.

_There's still a good decade left before I revert back to the body I had when I was an obnoxious teenager, but..._ She cocked her head. _Oh, why not. I might never get there physically, but this is an excellent opportunity mentally._

Without touching the oily globs on Hei's face, she rushed into the tent again, and this time she came back with a box of wet paper towels. Only then did she spread the sunscreen over his face, careful not to wake him with rough movements or too much cold. When he arched into her touch at one point, a small keening sound escaping him, it gave her pause, and she caressed his cheek again without thinking about it.

The tricky part wasn't getting the sunscreen on without waking him, though; it was getting it off again. Wiping sunscreen from an upper lip in a recognisable moustache shape was quite a chore, and after much internal debate, she had to conclude that a kissy-mouth, accurately shaped or not, would have to be done by hand in order to remove the necessary amount of sunscreen.

Pai watched the proceedings on her haunches from about halfway through, chin in hand.

"Why are you doing that?" she asked, just as Amber put the finishing touches to the 'lip-marks' on Hei's cheek.

"Because I can." Amber answered in complete honesty. "Wanna see if I can get 'Property of Pai' on his neck?"

"No."

"Then do you want me to remove it all?"

"Do we have after-sun lotion of some kind?"

"The best."

"Then there's no point in wasting so much effort." With an exaggerated air of innocence, Pai stood, said: "I'm going up to the supply tent again. We don't even have enough blankets.", and left.

Amber, in turn, conjured up a devilish smile.

"Don't worry," she said, leaning down to Hei's soundly sleeping face and squinting to find the spot she'd wiped the kissy-mouth from. "I'll take care of you until she comes back."

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**PSAN:** Hope you liked it.


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